bubblerboy, any others interested -
I first did a search on the net for some "quality" wood filler. Hell, I spent $40 on high quality epoxy for intake manifold work on automotive engines. I didn't want a bunch of work to fall victim to cracking or chipping down the road. Oddly enough, in six or seven places that I read though, good ol (automotive) "Bondo" was number one or number two on everyone's wood filler list.
So, I bought a can of Bondo, some sand paper, and as mentioned, a can of Krylon pickup bed paint. I was looking for some Military, flat earth green, but couldn't find any in three stores.
I first removed most of the main character line that goes end to end with with my belt sander (I do mostly car stuff). Then as much as I could get of the line that circles around near the rear of the stock. and some of the rest of the hard lines in the wood. I then removed all of the wood stain so it would not interfere with the adhesion of the Bondo. Then I did more "wood work". I opened the back of the triangular opening a little more. I was going to go farther back to make the opening larger...but...it didn't. I removed about 3/8" of an inch of the stock, behind the trigger to make room for my second finger to raise up closer to my index finger, instead of being pushed way down as the original design is. That ended up being mostly gone anyway..! I DID NOT like the strange cutout for your second finger what-so ever. Really odd thing. I used an aluminum carbide burr to roughen much of the wood surface to have a place for the Bondo to adhere well to. I cleaned the dust out of the wood with compressed air and wiped it down with brake cleaner. First coat of filler. Roughed it out, did more "wood working", removing Bondo and wood. Another filler coat. More sanding, first real bit of actual finish "shaping". Third filler coat, rough and finish sanding. I put an old broom stick into the "factory" cutout in the inside of the grip and started painting. First coat, 20 minutes later a second, 20 minutes later a third. I learned the trick to get an even roughness on the second coat..! Let it sit in the garage for a while. It was a bit cold in the garage as evening came, so I brought it in the house. The next morning, it was still a little sticky, but I put the Lelya mechanicals into the stock and let it sit another day.
Out to the hood of one of my cars to take pictures... Now...I like the way it feels in my hand and pulled to my shoulder. Almost wish it was a 308 Winchester bullet coming out of the end of the barrel...
Hope that answers most questions.
Mike
P.s. - I still may put a coat of flat earth green on it if I find the color I want.
